http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6376599.stm

Spearmint tea may help to control excessive hair growth in women, say Turkish researchers. Drinking the tea twice a day, reduced levels of male sex hormones, which can cause excessive hair growth (hirsutism) on the stomach, breasts and face. Treatment for hirsutism, usually involves drugs to reduce the levels of androgen or male hormones in the body. Writing in Phytotherapy Research, the Turkish scientists said spearmint could be a good natural alternative therapy.

Hirsutism is rarely caused by a serious illness but excess hair growth in women can cause distress or embarrassment. This study shows that spearmint could be a good natural alternative for women who have mild symptoms
Professor Mehmet Numan Tamer, study leader. In some cases, hirsutism may be a result of an underlying medical disorder, such as polycystic ovary syndrome. All women produce small amounts of the male sex (or androgen) hormones, which includes testosterone, but it is the over production of the hormones that leads to excessive hair growth.

According to the researchers, extracts of spearmint plant (Mentha spicata Labiatae) had been reported to reduce libido in men in a town called Isparta in southwest Turkey, possibly due to reduced androgen hormone levels. To look at the effects in women, 21 volunteers with hirsutism, 12 of whom had polycystic ovary syndrome, were given a cup of spearmint tea twice a day for five days in the follicular (when the ovarian follicle develops) phase of their menstrual cycle. They made the tea by pouring a cup (250ml) of boiling water over one heaped teaspoon (5g) of dried leaves, and leaving it for five to 10 minutes. The researchers found a significant decrease in free (active) testosterone in the blood and an increase in several female hormones including follicle-stimulating hormone. However, there was no increase in overall testosterone levels, suggesting that more of the hormone was bound to protein in the bloodstream and was inactive.

Spearmint could affect the metabolism of hormones such as testosterone or directly affect synthesis of androgen hormones, the researchers suggest.
More work is needed to test the reliability of spearmint in treating mild hirsutism, warned lead researcher, Professor Mehmet Numan Tamer.
"Current therapies use either oral contraceptives to suppress androgen production, or medications such as spironolactone that prevent the body responding to androgen - but this study shows that spearmint could be a good natural alternative for women who have mild symptoms. We now need to do further studies to test the reliability of this finding, and to see the extent to which the reduced androgens do help women with mild hirsutism," she said.

Professor Richard Sharpe, principal investigator at the MRC Human Reproductive Sciences Unit in Edinburgh said the study was yet another indication that naturally occurring plant products can have an effect on human hormones. But he warned that women suffering from hirsutism or polycystic ovary syndrome needed proper medical treatment. "It's a relatively modest change and they haven't shown in this study if it would have any consequence for the women. For a lot of plant derived compounds, it's difficult to take it from this type of general observation to study the mechanisms and finding what the active compound is. If you suffer from hirsutism or polycystic ovary syndrome you would want to get a thorough work up and conventional treatment, as it depends what it causing it," he said."

I was Just about to post this too! It looks very promising,I am going to start having some spearment tea for sure! who knew?

That is the most disappointing study I have ever read. I need hair.

the only problem is I don't really care for spearmint flavor :-)

do you mean head hair?don't worry its not going to affect your scalp hair,it is just targeting excess body hair,I am sure you wouldn't mind sparing a few extra body hairs?then again everyone has their own thing! :-D

Yes, I mean head hair only but isn't hair, hair?

No body hair is a different problem, hirsuitism is a disorder that is not related to scalp hair,its only talking about body hair,what spearmint is doing is lowering certain hormones responsible for excess body hair not scalp hair.It has nothing to do with head hair.

here is an article from the web that will explain that spearmint may actually treat thinning hair in women


Could Spearmint tea help hair loss sufferers?
Posted on February 21st, 2007 in Hair Loss News by admin http://news.hairlosshelp.com/hair-l...loss-sufferers/
Drinking between two and five cups of spearmint tea per day could reduce the effects of androgens in the body. This is according to a new study recently conducted in Turkey.

Researchers at the Suleyman Demirel University in Turkey conducted trials on women with a condition known as hirsutism. Hirsutism is excessive hair and facial growth on the body of a woman. It’s caused by the same androgens that cause hair loss in men. Women suffering from hirsutism frequently experience hair loss too because the same male hormones that stimulate body hair growth also cause hair loss on the scalp.

In the study, 21 women with hirsutism, 12 of whom had polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), were assigned a cup of spearmint tea twice a day for five days in the follicular phase of their menstrual cycle.

The spearmint tea was brewed by pouring a 250ml cup of boiling water over one heaped teaspoon of dried leaves. It was then left to infuse for five to 10 minutes.

After measuring their hormone levels, researchers found that the women had experienced a decrease in free testosterone in their blood and also had an increase in several female hormones including follicle-stimulating hormone.

Despite the reduction in free testosterone, their total level of testosterone including free and active forms did not change, suggesting that the spearmint tea somehow blocked the androgens rather than inhibited their production.

According to Mehmet Numan Tamer, spokesperson for the research team:

“Current therapies use either oral contraceptives to suppress androgen production, or medications such as spironolactone that prevent the body responding to androgen. But this study shows that spearmint could be a good natural alternative for women who have mild symptoms.”

The researchers cautioned that more studies are needed to confirm the effect of spearmint on hirsutism.

While this study was not conducted on men, evidence that spearmint tea could reduce a man’s sex drive sparked the researchers’ interest in the drink and led them to conduct their study.

It’s too early to say what effect it would have on Androgenetic Alopecia (Male Pattern Baldness) in men, but for women suffering with hair loss or hirsutism, it might be a treatment worth considering.

Source: Phytotherapy Research - “Effect of Spearmint (Mentha spicata Labiatae) Teas on Androgen Levels in Women with Hirsutism.” - Authors: Akdogan et al.
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I have been drinking spearmint tea for years and it hasnt helped me. If it has, its scary to think of what I would have looked like without it! lol

Laser, on the other hand, has been giving me excellent results.

MyJourney were you using the regular tea bags from the store?Because those are not really a potent source of herb,in fact they sit on the shelf so long and in some cases are so irradiated that it has little benefit.In these studies they were using the potent tea leaves themselves and making an infusion with it.I wonder if potency and dose have allot to do with it.Because with herbs you need a good potent whole source,and you have to take it at high enough exact doses over a certain period of time.

I actually grow my own herbs. I have a mint blend that I use that is all organic and from my little herb garden.

I drink it every evening and sometimes in the mornings too.